5 Supply Chain priorities for 2023; HSCA's new affiliate program; plus Jobs!

March 24, 2023

Hello NAW Subscribers -

I hope you like this issue of National Accounts Weekly.

Sincerely,

John Pritchard

President of ANAE

Publisher of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting (JHC)

World-Class Emergency Services

Supply chain has played an important part in the building of UC Health’s new emergency department. It will play an even bigger role when the facility opens this year.

Emergency services are a big part of UC Health’s legacy. The UC Department of Emergency Medicine is home to the first residency training program in the U.S., and the program celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020. The department attracts top medical students from across the country to train in Cincinnati, and its faculty are national leaders in clinical teaching and research.

When UC Health got the greenlight to build a new facility for its emergency department from the ground up, leadership wanted the physical building to match their top tier ranking from a clinical perspective. To do that, they needed supply chain to play a key role.

The project was announced in October 2019. Ground was broken on the structures in late summer 2021, and completion is expected in late summer 2023, according to the IDN.

The project includes:

SMI shares 5 Supply Chain priorities for 2023

SMI®, a non-profit, member-driven community of healthcare organizations, held their Fall Forum in Scottsdale, Arizona where 200 members and invited guests discussed their top priorities for 2023. Members participated in facilitated discussions on a variety of topics affecting the U.S. healthcare supply chain based on current challenges and future strategies.

Five key priorities emerged from these conversations:

Cleveland Clinic Akron General adopts new approach to labor, delivery

Cleveland Clinic Akron General recently instituted a new model of care designed to improve outcomes for pregnant patients by focusing on communication and teamwork to enhance safety and quality of care.

A major part of the new model, called TeamBirth, involves all members of the care team having “huddles” with patients at regular intervals so that everyone understands their current condition and birth preferences.

Intermountain hospitals on top 100 for rural, community, critical access

Intermountain Park City and Heber Valley Hospitals have each been named to Top 100 lists for quality of care and the critical role they play in serving the community.

The Chartis Center for Rural Health named Intermountain Park City Hospital one of America’s Top 100 Best Rural and Community Hospitals, while Intermountain Heber Valley Hospital was named to Chartis’ Top 100 list for Critical Access Hospitals.

The Chartis Top 100 lists uses a proprietary index to evaluate and measure hospitals based on key performance areas.

OSF HealthCare, Illinois State launch Connected Communities Initiative

Illinois State University and OSF HealthCare have formed a partnership to foster research, innovation, and economic development across the state of Illinois. The Connected Communities Initiative (CCI) program will bring together clinicians, university faculty researchers, and students to focus on innovation in clinical and patient education, health care engineering, data science, and cybersecurity.

The program is a formalization of the partnership between these two anchor institutions in Bloomington-Normal and the broader OSF HealthCare system. Illinois State and OSF HealthCare are lead hub members of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN).

HSCA announces program to improve supply chain processes

The Healthcare Supply Chain Association, which represents the nation’s leading healthcare group purchasing organizations, announced HSCA Connect, its new affiliate program, intended for stakeholders from different areas of the healthcare continuum.

The program is open to manufacturers (including pharma, medtech, med supplies, laboratories), distributors, and service providers (legal, consultants, finance, analysts). Applications are now open, and interested organizations are encouraged to apply by June 1, 2023, for first consideration.

NYT singles out labor practices of healthcare food service manufacturers

By John Strong, APSI

Access Strategy Partners Inc.

On Feb. 28, The New York Times published a front-page article entitled “Alone and Exploited - Migrant Children Toil in Hazardous Jobs Across the U.S.” If you think child labor is just a problem in other countries, think again. Look no further than Grand Rapids, Michigan, though it is occurring in every state according to the article.

If you thought the working conditions described in Upton Sinclair’s 1906 book The Jungle, describing working conditions in meatpacking plants in the U.S. was a thing of the past, they’re not.

Why do IDN Supply Chain Leaders demand price concessions when they know supplier costs have skyrocketed?

Three years removed from the start of the pandemic, we are still feeling the debilitating effects on the healthcare system. We are getting a clearer picture of how challenging things were for the industry, while still formulating recovery plans for the road ahead.

A recent study conducted by Syntellis and the American Hospital Association found that contract labor expenses for hospitals increased a staggering 258% from 2019 to 2022. While the triple-digit percentage might be surprising, the reason is all too clear: COVID-19 created an overwhelming staffing shortage that challenged and crippled hospitals and health systems across the country.